Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

The Moon as my Witness
Lady Draculea
Chapter 2
The next day proved to be just as bright as the day previous. Waking up with a late start, Diana didn't really have enough willpower to move herself from her warm cocoon of blankets. It had taken her longer than she had wanted to fall asleep, this was a new and foreign house after-all, but soon enough the past week's exhaustion had caught up with her and had knocked her out cold.

Sighing, Diana rolled onto her back, flinging an arm across her eyes as she was momentarily blinded by the glare of sunlight that shown through her window. Curtains are definitely the first thing up, she thought as a yawn ripped through her thoughts, scattering her wonderings on to where her curtains were exactly and bringing tears to her eyes.

Rubbing the stray salt-water away, Diana let her thoughts drift away as she rolled from her mattress, letting out a soft-oomph when she hit the floor. Her bed frame was in pieces, leaning against the wall, waiting to be put back together. Diana had forgone doing so the day before, too tired to do much more than collapse upon the blankets piled on her mattress.

Sitting up, Diana stretched before untangling herself from her comforter and shrugging into clean jeans and a shirt. After pulling on her second sock, she looked around her room, wondering where she should start.

The dresser was currently pressed against the wall under the window, but the drawers were missing – assumingly still somewhere downstairs. She had managed to locate all of her boxes and stack them together, as well as drag up her small area rug.

Diana wanted to get everything organised since everything was currently a pig-sty. The sooner she did that the sooner she could have the excuse that she was looking for a job.

Decided and dressed, Diana slipped through the door and made her way to the kitchen. Unpacking had made some progress compared to yesterday. Things were generally where they were supposed to be, save for the pile of randoms sitting in the living room.

"Good morning, sunshine." Dad smiled at his daughter as she stumbled into the kitchen, a half eaten pop tart on the plate in front of him. "Though, it's closer to noon. Sleep well?"

Pulling her own blueberry pop tart from the box and dropping it into the toaster, she answered, "not really."

"You'll get used to it."

"Meh."

A glass in hand and full of milk, Diana took a sip and wondered why it was so quiet. "Where are Heather and Melanie?"

"Hm?" Diana's father blinked, immersed in his book. "Oh, they went looking for paint colours. They should be back soon, but who knows with those two."

Diana sighed, "true."

Jumping when the toaster dinged in completion, Diana quickly grabbed the hot breakfast food, dropping it onto her plate, then dropping herself onto the breakfast stool next to her father. "What's happening today?"

Her dad shrugged, his eyes never leaving the thick novel in front of him. "Unpacking, shopping, painting, unpack – oh! We're going to dinner with Heather's boss tonight."

Diana paused half-chew, "what?"

"Yep, Heather is going to be an important asset to LaCroix Foundation." He beamed in pride for his wife, "the whole family was invited when we took a look around yesterday."

A social function. Great. "Is it a fancy dinner?"

This made her father grimace, he hated formal dinners just as much as she did, if not more so. "Well, yeah. Sebastian LaCroix is a formal sort of guy, you know, one of the executive types."

Groaning, Diana banged her head onto the table. "Great."

Her dad smiled and patted her on the head. "It won't be so bad, you'll see."

"You're not the one who has to worry about making a fool out of yourself. You at least know "proper dinner etiquette."

"So do you, your grandmother did a fine job of teaching you."

Diana stared at her father incredulously, "grandma gave up on teaching me table manners when I was twelve. She said I was hopeless!"

Her father chuckled, "you worry too much."

She shot back, "you don't worry enough."

"Which is why you'll be grey by the time you're thirty."

"I don't worry on purpose."

"You're young, you have to yet to find out that you can't change everything, and that-"

"-you should take things as they come." She finished for him. "I know, you've only been telling me since forever."

He slung an arm around her shoulders, pulling in for a brief hug. "I know kiddo. I'm just wondering when it will sink in."

Diana smiled into her father's sweater, "eventually dad, eventually."

They ate the rest of their meal in silence, dad once again nose-deep in his novel and Diana engrossed in her thoughts. After downing the rest of her milk, she said, "So, you're wearing a suit."

He peered at her from the corner of his eye, a slight grimace stretched across his face. "You have to wear a dress."

"I like dresses."

"… Dang, there goes that idea."

Diana just laughed.

While Diana did like dresses, the only relatively formal one that she owned was her prom dress. She had chosen it then for its comfort and sleek-fashion and was immensely grateful now more than ever that she hadn't chosen one of those crazy-poufy monstrosities that a good portion of her female classmates had chosen.

"Diana, stop fidgeting, Mr. LaCroix will be here any second," Heather snapped, scowling as she watched her step-daughter drop the napkin that she had been twisting into her lap.

"Now, now, dear. She's just nervous." Dad said, patting Heather's hand with his own. "This is an important night, after all."

Heather sniffed and turned to her husband, "I know, I'm sorry. I just want everything to be perfect – oh! Here he comes!"

As Sebastian LaCroix advanced Heather rose to greet him, her patented perfect smile on her lips. "Mr. LaCroix."

Her new boss nodded in return, "Mrs. Jacobson. I hope I'm not late…?"

"Oh no, we just arrived as few minutes ago. Please take a seat." She motioned to the empty chair beside her.

As the founder of LaCroix Foundation took his seat, Diana took the opportunity to study her step-mother's boss. He was pale, almost unnaturally so in the dim lighting of the fancy restaurant. Sandy brown hair lay gelled in place while sharp grey eyes gave him an authoritative feel. While he was handsome, Diana thought he looked far too young to be the one in charge of such a prosperous company. Maybe he had inherited it?

Suddenly those grey eyes were on her as she finally realised that Heather had been speaking. "…And this is my step-daughter, Diana."

Diana's breath caught in her throat and she felt her cheeks heat from being caught staring, "Um, hi."

A corner of LaCroix's lips quirked into a smile and he nodded to her in greeting, "A pleasure."

Diana didn't breathe until he turned his attention to his newest employee, relieved that she no longer had those piercing eyes on her.

Melanie cleared her throat, catching Diana's attention. Her step-sister smiled knowingly, her reaction not lost on her. Glaring, Diana turned away and began focusing on the conversation going on between Heather and Mr. LaCroix.

The meal passed by in a blur, at least that is what it felt like to Diana. Dinner was delicious; she had even indulged in a slice of cheesecake, pointedly ignoring Melanie's ribs of where exactly she stored all her food.

Every once in a while she would feel Mr. LaCroix's gaze on her, often seeming to be puzzled by her, but Diana couldn't imagine why. She had managed to behave well enough that she knew her grandma would be proud of her, well, save for that brief moment when she almost spilled her water, but that could be overlooked.

By the time dinner was coming to a close, Diana felt she could fall asleep standing up. She didn't think that she had ever spent so much in a restaurant in her life. She had quickly grown bored of the talk of business and later political whatsits that dad, Heather, Mr. LaCroix and even Melanie had been discussing. Instead, she spent most of the time discreetly watching the business executive.

He was intelligent, and quite sharp, almost to a point that it was unnerving. He didn't eat much, preferring to nurse a glass of red wine. He was attentive, so much that Diana was positive that he knew exactly whenever she regarded him, if the small smile her would acquire after watching him was any indication. Diana had never met anyone like him before, and she didn't know what to make of it.

It was a little before midnight when they prepared to leave. Heather announced how excited she was to start on Monday, and dad beamed in pride while practically inhaling the after dinner mint. Melanie was silent, though that wasn't usual in itself since she looked just as tired as Diana felt. The older girl had been painting for most of the day, as well as moving around furniture. Diana hadn't expected her to do any of the work around the house, but she had surprised her.

Suddenly, Mr. LaCroix's grey eyes were on her and he was speaking. "I hear that you are looking for a job?"

Diana blinked. They had been talking about her? Why hadn't she noticed? "Yes, I am."

"There is always something that needs to be done at the tower," he said, either ignoring or unaware of Heather's look of outrage. Diana guessed the former. "If you ask for a Mrs. Mina Paul, she would gladly give you various tasks that need to be done."

Running around an office building wasn't exactly what she had in mind for a job, but it beat making hamburgers at a fast-food restaurant, "That would be great. Thank you."

He smiled, pleased, "I will let her know you will be stopping by." He then addressed Heather and Diana's father, inclining his head. "Good evening."

Everyone left soon after, piling into Heather's SUV. Heather's face was still tight in anger, her lips pinched into a thin line and her cheeks painted fiercely with colour. She didn't look happy at all.

Dad, of course was oblivious, "Isn't it great, kiddo? It was very kind of Mr. LaCroix to give you a job, not many people in his position would do that."

Diana smiled weakly, "yeah, it's great."

Heather jabbed the radio to life, drowning out what Dad was going to say. Giving up, he smiled sympathetically to his wife before singing along to the music.

Shaking her head in amusement, Diana closed her eyes. Dad was right, it was very nice of Mr. LaCroix to have offered her a job, but that was what seemed to strange to her. Why would he offer in the first place? Heather, though she thought otherwise, was just one of Mr. LaCroix's employees, not particularly vital to the company's success, but far up enough to be invited to dinner by the head honcho. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to Diana, and the only (sane) reason she could come up with is that he actually was just being kind.

The ride home was quiet, well, save for Dad's singing. He really wasn't all that half-bad, but of course no one would tell him that unless they wanted to be dragged out to karaoke. Once upon a time Diana would have been glad to join her father in singing along to the radio, but once her parents had been divorced she couldn't find it in herself to join him. It wasn't as if she didn't sing along anymore, she just wasn't comfortable singing in front of Melanie and Heather, too self-conscious to even try. Mom would only smile when she and dad belted out obnoxiously to their favourite tunes, even joining in every once in a while, but Melanie and Heather didn't even bother. Diana had seen how Melanie sneered at dad for it at first, but soon seemed to just become amused by his antics. Heather used it to her advantage, knowing if she turned on the radio dad would stay focused on the music and little else.

Twenty minutes later found them pulled into the garage and piling out of the vehicle. Heather immediately stomped into the house, dad close on her heels, trying to coax her out of her anger and convince her that Mr. LaCroix was just doing them a favour.

Diana ignored them as she slid from the leather seat, eager to get out of the torturous devices on her feet also known as heels. She could feel the blisters forming already. Why oh why didn't she have the foresight to wear ballet flats instead?

Closing the car door, Melanie was suddenly beside her, a small smile on her lips. "Someone seemed awfully interested in Mr. LaCroix tonight."

Stiffening, Diana tried to ignore the heat filling her cheeks. "I don't know what you mean."

Melanie snorted, "Please, you could barely keep your eyes off of him. In fact," her face took on a crafty look, "he had his eyes on you almost as often."

That stopped Diana. She knew that he had watched her a few times, but surely he had done the same for everyone else. Confused, she turned to her step-sister and said, "What are you talking about?"

She almost looked surprised, "you mean you didn't notice, after all the time you spent staring at him?"

"I wasn't staring," she huffed.

"Whatever,' Melanie said, waving her hand. " He kept looking at you for some reason, he seemed somewhat… confused, I suppose. It made mother really angry."

"Is that what's she's angry about? I thought it was because he said I could work at the tower doing menial labour."

"Well, that too." She sighed, picked a piece of imaginary lint off her dress. "Mother wanted this to be her night, yet you stole the spotlight away from her."

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

Melanie frowned, suddenly irritated. "You don't think I know that? Here mom was, excited to start a new important job at LaCroix Foundation, and her boss seems only to have eyes for you. I'm not surprised that she's angry, I would be too."

Crossing her arms, Diana shook her head. It wasn't her fault that Mr. LaCroix kept looking at her, and it certainly not her fault he offered to let her work at the tower either. "What did you expect me to do? I barely said five words to him the whole night."

"Exactly," she exclaimed, her hands on her hips. "You said nothing to whole night, but he offers you a job! How did he even know that you were looking for one?"

"What?" Diana gaped, "I had thought you had been talking about it at dinner?"

Incredulous, Melanie looked at Diana in exasperation. "Did you not listen to anything that was talked about?"

Blushing, Diana looked away. "A little."

Snorting, Melanie pushed passed her step-sister and smirked over her shoulder before turning from view. "You really were captivated by him."

"Oh shut up!"

Melanie's laughter trailed after her.

Glowering, Diana smouldered in her frustration until she could no longer her Melanie's obnoxious voice. It was completely ridiculous. Someone must have had mentioned her current unemployment during diner, what else could it have been? Did he just assume and happen to be correct?

Shifting, Diana's feet quickly reminded her of the pain that was being inflicted upon them and effectively drove away her thoughts. It was late, her feet were killing her, her hair was sticky from excess amounts of hairspray and product, and her head was threatening to crack open from the size of the headache that was beginning to make itself known. What she would love more than anything at the moment was a bath.

While Melanie and she needed to share a bathroom, her step-sister was relatively neat, so it wasn't a huge problem. Luckily enough, it was their shared bathroom that Melanie set her sights to first. Freshly painted pretty blue, white towels dotted the room, making it extra cheerful and sunny during the day. At night, it was clean and relaxing. It was easy to shrug off her dress and light a few candles before sinking into the delightful warmth of the bathwater, slightly scented with tangerine bubbles.

With a sigh, Diana reflected over the diner. Maybe Melanie was right, maybe she was captivated by Sebastian LaCroix. There was just something about him that drew her like a moth to a flame. Just thinking about it made the base of her stomach tighten in knots. It was funny, he had barely said two words to her, but she hung off everyone. It was true she hadn't paid any attention to the conversation going on between her family and the business man, but she had listened to everything that he had said. Maybe she hadn't fully understood what he was saying, but just the sound of his voice lured her somewhere she had never been before. He completely mesmerized her and it scared her.

What made those knots in her stomach burst into butterflies was that she had agreed to work at the tower, probably to do things like put away files and fetch coffee for overworked office workers. It wasn't something she would have preferred to do, as she knew that Heather would try to make work hell just for being there, and who knew what else would happen, but it was something. It was something that she could do until she found something more stable and rewarding. But that wasn't what made her nervous. It was the possibility of seeing Mr. LaCroix again. What would he say, what would she say? Would he just ignore her since his good deed quota had been fulfilled? Or was he genuinely interested in her like Melanie said?

Her headache throbbed in annoyance to her thoughts, and Diana forced herself to stop thinking. She could spend all night thinking about what could happen and worry herself sick over it. Dad was right, she had to stop worrying about these little things before they happened. She would worry and deal with them when the happened. There was no need to worry about the future when she wasn't even sure what she should be worrying about.

Decided, Diana relaxed into the water and told herself that she would be ready to face the day when it came to it, and since that day hadn't come yet, her worries could bugger off.